Hydroaeroplane



ZO-A

J. B. ANDERSON.

HYDROAEROPLANE. APPLICATION FILED AUG-26. I920.

Patented June 20, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' Even/or.- Emmi/$74660;

UNITED STATES JAMES B. ANDERSON, or PORTLAND, OREGON.

HYDROAEBOPLANE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 20, 1922.

Applicationfiled August 26, 1920. Serial No. 406,063.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, JAMES BRUSH ANDER- SON,a citizen' of the United States, and a resident of'Portland, county ofMultnomah, State of Oregon, have invented anew and useful Improvement inHydroaeroplanes, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention has for its object the providing of a device which may beconverted into an aeroplane or hydroplane in an instant; that is to sayby the mere operation of a lever and a pedal, or similar devices at thepilots station.

To this end my device comprises both running wheels, and a pontoon; theformer serving when my device is to be used as an aeroplane, and thelatter when to be used as a hydroplane. ,In other words my device ischanged from an aeroplane to hydroplane by lowering the pontoon andraising the running gear above the Water line; and it is changed fromhydroplanejto an aeroplane by lowering the wheels and raisingthepontoon; the devices controlling the wheels and the pontoon operating inunison, so that the lowering of one and the raising of the others willbe. simultaneous.

Furthermore the fuselage is so designed that the front part thereofconstitutes a water tight compartment.

Other features of my .invention will be brought out in the detaileddescription thereof hereinafter contained.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. '1 shows a side elevation of mydevice as a whole;

Fig. 2 shows a partial, longitudinal vertical section, of the fuselage,also showing means provided for raising and lowering the running wheelsand the pontoon; in

this view my device is assumed to have been arranged for use as ahydroplane;

Fig. 3 shows a front elevation of my de:

vice as it appears when arranged as an aero-.

plane; h

Fig. 4 shows a transverse section taken on the plane of the broken line4 of Fig. 2, illustratin the control of the means provided in t e frontpart of the fuselage for releasing the wheel look so that the wheels mayberaised for converting my device into a hydroplane;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on the plane of the broken line 5of Fig. 2, and

illustrating the construction of the wheelframe, and the shock absorbingfeature thereof;

Fi 6 shows .a transverse section taken on the p ane of the broken line 6of Fig. 2, and

illustrates the means provided for effecting the simultaneous loweringof the wheels while raising the pontoon, and vice versa;

Fig. 7 shows a transverse section on the plane of the broken line 7 ofFig. 2, and

illustrates the keeper provided for holding the pontoon in its down oractive position, said keeper. being also cooperatively connected withsaid raising and lowering means; Fi 8 shows an inner face elevation onthe p ane of the broken line 8 of Fig. 5, and- =illustrates the shockabsorbing element of the wheel-frame;

Fig. 9 shows a sectional detail illustratin the wheel-frame lock; thatis devices ,hojl l gfig h wheelframe in its active or. down position,and alsoillustrates the aux: i, 7 7

its down or up positions, or in other 'words 5 its active and inactivepositions; thus Fig.

10'shows a perspective of one of the sliding blocks to which the upperends of the braces of the wheel frame are fastened; Fig. 11.

shows one of the guides in which said blocks slide; and Fig. 12, whichis drawn partly, in section, illustrates the shock absorber elementincluded in said blocks;

Fi'g'."13 shows a perspective sectional detail of one of the rear doublewall portions '95 of the fuselage, between which the pontoon is hinged;and p Fig. 14 is a detail of means for operating thefdrums on whicharewound the cables attached to the wheel frame and to the pon- 10o doubleor hol ow walls'as at a. (see Fig. 13) i w1th the bottom open betweenthe walls, and

between these hollow wall portions is hinged the pontoon b. The purposeof making the rear side walls a. double is two fold, namely; to bracethe rear wall portions, and at the same time to provide an air chambercontributing towards the buoyancy of the device when afloat in thewater.

The front part of the fuselage is divided from the rear portion by awall-and-floor partition 0 as illustrated in Fig. 2, and the frontpart'of the fuselage is adapted to constitute a water tight compartmentwhen the hatch d is closed. 1

The walls of the front compartment of the fuselage are provided withwindows 6 at the sides and also in front. At the point where the pontoonb is hinged between the side walls a the latter are reinforced by plates6 at the inner sides.

The fuselage is provided with wheels f which are journaled on awheel-frame 9 (see Fig. 5), said wheel-frame including an axle g andbracesh. The bottom of the front section of the fuselage is providedwith a recess 2' to receive the axle 9 when the wheelframe is thrown inits up or inactive position. The braces k of the wheel frame areattached at their upper ends to lateral pins j borne by blocks is (seeFig. 12), which slide in guides m. The blocks Ia are provided with pinsn which bear reciprocably in a smaller block Z, and springs 0 areinserted between the blocks 70, Z. Latched blocks p are adapted forbeing projected in front of the blocks vZ as shown in Fig. 9. Thelatched blocks p are carried on bars 9 which have a sliding bearing inbrackets r fastened to the exterior of the fuselage. The bars 9 are madewith eyes 8, and to the latter are attached cables t, which enter thesides of the fuselage, and are connected to an arm of the foot-lever o,by the operation ,of which the latch-blocks p may be with-drawn from infront of the blocks Z. the wheel-frame may be arranged in its inactiveposition; and when the wheel-frame is arranged in its active positionthe springs w (see Fig. 9) will project thelatch-blocks p as shown inFig. 9, thereby locking the wheel-frame in its active position. And whenthe wheel-frame is so locked the blocks is and Z with the connectingpins and coil springs a mounted thereon will constitute shock absorbers.

The wheel-frame is also adapted to have a vertical movement against thesprings 3, or,in other words, is provided with a further shock absorbingelement illustrated in Figs. 2, 5 and -8. The ends of the uppercross-piece g of the wheel-frame are journaled in boxes a: which slidein guides y as shown in Fig. 8 more clearly; the boxes are provided withpins 2 which slide'in'brackegts 2, and the/boxes a; bear against saidcoil springs 3.

The wheel-frame is raised and lowered by When with-drawn,

means of cables 4.- which extend into the interior of thefuselage andare fastened to and wind on the larger drums 5; the latter being fast onan axle 6 and on the latter is also rigidly mounted a pin 7 meshing witha gearsegment 8 (shown in Fig. 14) having an arm 10 to which the cable11 is attached, the other end of which cable being fastened to a lever12. See Figs. 2 and 14. Thus by pulling the lever 12 in one directionthe ear segment is rotated thereby revolving the drum axle 6 and whenthe lever 12 is released, the gear segment 8 is rotated in the oppositedirection by the reaction of the spring 13, thus winding and unwindingthe cables 4 and lifting or lowering or in other words placing ininactive or active position the wheel-frame g.

The pontoon b is raised and lowered by a cable 14 which winds on themiddle drum 15 carried by said axle 6. The connection of the pontoon Z2and the wheel-frame 9 through the medium of said cables with the drumscarried by the shaft 6 is such as to cause'the rotation of said shaft 6in one or the other direction either to lower the wheel-frame and liftthe pontoon or vice versa. The pontoon is limited in its downward motionby a stop 16 shown in Fig. 2 and the pontoon is locked in its down oractive position by a latch arm 17 connected by a cable 18 with a cable14-, the cables being so arranged that in the operation of said drums tolift the -pontoon the latch arm 17 will be moved out of the way inadvance of the lifting of the pontoon b by the cable 1 1. Qn the forwardpart of the fuselage is mounted the wing supporting frame 18 which maybe of any convenient construction; 19 represent the wings of the usualconstruction, 20 represent a pair of pusher type propellers which arerotated'by motors 21. At the ends of the wings are provided poritoonsusual type.

For the convenience of shipping my device I prefer to detachably fastenthe wing frame by bolts or otherwise on the fuselage and'to sustain thesame in place by stay cables 23.

At the tail end of the fuselage is provided a supplemental ground wheel24. 25 represents a rudder element of the usual type but placed higherthan in the usual type of aero: planes so as to provide suitableclearance from the water, when my device is used as a hydroplane. Therudder element is understood to be operated by suitable appliancesarranged as convenient and therefore not illustrated.

I do not of course limit myself to the exact details of constructionabove described.

I claim:

1. In a hydroaeropla-ne a fuselage adapted to constitute a cabincompletely enclosed in the forward part and having rearwardly ex- 22 ofthe 30 controlling means therefor located at the tending hollow sidewall portions, and apon toon hlnged between such wall portions andadapted to be raised there-between.-

2. In a hydroaeroplane, the combination of fuselage running wheelsjournaled on an adjustable frame carried by the fuselage, a pontoonhinged to the latter, and means for lifting the wheel-frame whilelowering the pontoon, and Vice versa, the fuselage being curved upwardforward of the wheel-frame, and the rear part of the fuselage slopingupward at an angle, and comprising'side wall portion spaced apart,between which the'pontoon is carried.

3. In'a hydroaeroplane, the combination of fuselage running wheelsjournaled onan adjustable frame carried by the fuselage, a pontoonhinged to the latter, andmeans for lifting the wheel-frame whilelowering the pontoon, and vice versa, the fuselage being curved upwardforward of the wheel-frame, and the rear part of the fuselage slopingupward at an angle, and comprising side wall portion spaced apart,between which the pon-.

toon is carried, and a supporting wheel pro- I ided at the rear end ofthe fuselage.

4, A hydroplane comprising a fuselage, running wheels journaled onadjustable frame carried by the fuselage, a pontoon hinged to thelatter, a hoisting element, and

pilot station in'the fuselage, cables connecting said wheel frame andsaid pontoon with said hoisting element, the latter bein adapt ed towind up one of said cables w en unwinding the other.

. 5. A hydroplane comprising a fuselage, I

running wheels journaled on adjustable frame carried by thefuselage, apontoon hinged'to the latter, a hoisting element, and controlling meanstherefor located at the pilot station in the fuselage, cables connectinsaid wheel-frame and'said pontoon with sa1d hoisting element, the latterbeing adapted to wind up one of said cables when unwinding the other,and means for locking said pontoon in its active position.

6; Ahydroplane comprising a fuselage, I

running wheels :jou'rnaled on adjustable frame carried by the. fuselage,a pontoon hinged to the latter, a hoisting element, and

after the pontoon has been lowered into its active position, and towlthdraw said locking means inadvance of the lifting of the pontoon.JAMES B. ANDERSON.

